Digital Renaissance of Work – Chapter 7

The Digital Renaissance of Work – Chapter 7 “The Price We Pay”

A Digital Renaissance that makes work fundamentally more rewarding and a wave of innovation as significant as the Industrial Revolution – there must be downsides.”

“The ‘Second Machine Age’, as Brynjolfsson and McAfee call this digital revolution, brings with it great benefits but also costs.

The fragmentation that may be experienced when we see those we work with less and less in person can be a challenge in any company.

Yes, the office each day, every day was a drag, but working in homes not originally designed as workplaces can also bring a sense of detachment from other human beings.”

“As a species we are currently struggling to understand and design our relationship with technology during the digital revolution we are living through. Admittedly we
have experienced apparent threats from innovation before (from the mechanization of agriculture to the Industrial Revolution) and some of these fears were justified (for example, the corrosive effects on the human experience of the factory production line).”

Others turned out to be exaggerated (such as fears that the arrival of the PC would reduce employment levels, whereas in fact employment rose through increased demand and consumerization). However, the ability for technology to seep into every aspect of our lives now, is without precedent.

Research suggests that one in 12 minutes of each of our waking hours is spent online in some form or another, so it is no wonder our relationship with technology is a defining issue of our age.